


The Second I Had My Eyes on You

by Jiaxing



Series: Moving On Series [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Allison Argent/Scott McCall (mentioned) - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Human, BL!settings, Good Theo Raeken, M/M, Minor Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Minor Isaac Lahey/Scott McCall, Past Theo Raeken/Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-07-10
Packaged: 2018-07-21 19:45:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7401331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jiaxing/pseuds/Jiaxing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seven years ago, Corey's mother sent him to stay at his cousin's, Scott McCall, house during summer break, when he first met Theo Raeken, Scott's friend. Corey fell in love at first sight with Theo, but unfortunately the said boy only had Stiles in his eyes and heart, completely ignoring Corey. They were never in touch afterward, and meet again seven years after. Corey is working for Theo's father now and assigned to be Theo's PA. Theo does not remember Corey and Corey found himself still so deeply in love with Theo when he met him again. With Stiles walked out of Theo's life, will now Corey has his chance with Theo, as he helps him mend his broken heart?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rubik](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rubik/gifts).



> Soooo..., this is actually the spin off (or elaboration) of Corey/Theo's parts from my other fic: 'The Second We Said 'I Do''. If you have read the story, you'd know how their relationships unfolded and the end of their journey. However, 'The Second We Said...' fic was focused on Sterek relationship, and a lot of missing pieces for Corey/Theo bit. As I grow fondness for this two, I finally decided to write separate fic for them, as well as for Scisaac bit (for later. Maybe...^^;;).
> 
> Slight warning, there would be changes on their characters to fit the plot. There's no evil Theo here, only the angel Theo. Corey, on the other hand, will be the dominant one, and the initiator of their relationships (probably slightly manipulative too, depends on how you look at it^^). Also, for any Steo fans, this fic won't do any justice for that ship ^^;; (so you've been warned)
> 
> As for Corey and Scott relationships, I used a fanon I found online, about Corey is Scott's cousin from his father's side, so that's that. Corey's character in this fic is mostly based on that fanon too, but I still included some of his canon character. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading it.
> 
> @Rubik: as promised, I write their fic. I hope this could sate your craving for these two. Thanks for supporting them on my last fic^^

**_Seven Years Ago_ **

“Why do I have to go to New York?” Corey took off his glasses and pinched his nose bridge, tried not to sound too annoyed.

“I’ve told you I need to go for couple of weeks for a conference, and since you’re in your summer break, won’t it be better if you go visit your Aunt Melissa? She misses you, you know? And you can hang out with Scott too…”

Corey stared at his mother attentively as she was packing her stuffs for the conference. Her light brown hair, which he inherited too, was dancing in the wind when she pacing around the room to make sure she got everything she needed. She had been bugging Corey for days to go to New York and stayed with his uncle’s family during summer break. He admitted that he liked his cousin Scott. Scott was like a big brother that Corey never had, but he was hoping he would be able to spend this summer with Liam and Mason instead. The two of them were his upperclassmen by one year, seniors, and they often took Corey to hang out at cool places, made a lot of his friends envied him. Especially, as the top jocks in their lacrosse team, the said seniors had promised to train him during the summer break, so Corey was really looking forward for that.

“Are you worried if I stay at home alone? I’m not a kid anymore, you know? I’m going to be seventeen next month. I wanna find a part time job and train for the game this summer break.”

“Still, you’re under age. Scott played lacrosse too, so you can practice with him and his friends, and if you really want to have part time job, you can do that at New York. I’ll ask your aunt to have you around her clinic, or at your uncle’s company. It’ll look good for your resume than to take some shitty job at nearby diner,” Maya retorted.

Corey closed his eyes, now had genuinely annoyed. Liam worked at a nearby diner, and it was obvious the reference his mother just made was intended for him. Corey knew his mother did not like him hang out with Liam, for he was not actually an up-straight student. His mother was okay with Mason, but not with Liam. However, since Mason and Liam were practically joined on the hip, and his mother knew about it, so the prohibition was extended to Mason too. The very reason why Corey’s mother dislike Liam was because he was well known to have quite a temper and often got into troubles because of it. Even, in the last incident, Corey was there and he got dragged into the mess, awarded him with detention, much to enrage his mother. Corey was grounded for almost a month afterward, and ever since that time, Maya had been watching him like an eagle, and made a lot of pointed comments as warning. This time, she might smell his plan to spend the break with the two best friends, thus came out with this plan.

“Ugh, Mom…,” Corey groaned.

“Listen, it’s fixed already. I’ve told your aunt that I’ll send you to her place tomorrow then go to my conference. So, start packing your stuffs.”

Corey groaned once more, but dragged his heels back to his room nonetheless. He loved his mom, and it was always been the two of them ever since Corey’s parents got divorced. He knew how his mother was trying so hard to raise him and came up to meet their ends. She also tried to fulfill both roles as a mother and a father for Corey, so he loved and respected her so much for it. Corey always tried so hard both on his study and on the field. He was hoping he could get sport scholarships so his mother would not have to work so hard to pay for his college. He knew it might be easier if he just sought for employment once he graduated from high school, but his mother wanted him to at least finished his bachelor degree, so that was that.

His phone was buzzing inside his pants pocket and he saw Mason’s name on the text sender. He opened it and read that Liam and Mason had waited downstairs. Thanks to the conversation with his mother, Corey was completely forgotten that the seniors asked him to join them to talk about their new strategies for the new season. He cursed mentally and was crossing his fingers that his mother would grant him permission to go outside. Corey certainly couldn’t be honestly said that Liam and Mason picked him out, so he grabbed two of his books and his backpack.

“I’ll go out for a while, but I’ll return before dinner,” he tried to act casually in front of his mom.

“Where are you going?” Maya was eyeing her son as she typed something on her computer.

“Library, returning books before they fine me. I’ll be at New York for weeks, you know?”

Maya rolled her eyes, clearly caught on her son’s sarcasm. “Come back before dinner.”

“That’s what I said…,” Corey closed their apartment’s door and dashed downstairs. Once he got into the street, he saw Liam’s car on the parking lane, with the two friends sat idly in it. The younger boy hastily opened the door and tossed his body on the back seat. “Sorry that took a while…”

The dark-skin upperclassman, Mason, flashed an understanding smile. “No worries. It wasn’t that long. Your mother’s at home, right?”

Corey nodded and returned the smile, also greeted Liam with his wiggled eyebrows. The blonde started the engine and drove away. “What did you tell your mom?” He asked, eyeing Corey from the rear view mirror.

“Told her I’m heading to the library.”

“Nice…”

“Why didn’t you just tell your mom that you wanna meet us to discuss some tactics for the next season?” Mason frowned.

“Because it’s us, Mason. His mom is not really my big fan.”

Corey cracked an apologetic smile. “Sorry.”

Liam shrugged. “It’s cool. I really got you into trouble that last time.”

“It wasn’t even you who started it. That douche bag was literally asking for it,” Mason snorted.

“Still not a good rapport on the parent’s eye, Man. S’ cool, really.”

“I won’t be able to practice with the two of you too,” Corey interjected. “My mom would send me to my cousin’s house in New York for the rest of the break.”

“What?!!” This time, the two seniors whipped their head toward Corey in unison.

“Damn…, I thought we could train the new tactics during the summer break,” Liam clicked his tongue.

“Sorry…,” Corey mumbled his apology again. This was really sucked for him. The practice would certainly give him more opportunities on the field and might attract the talent scouts who were usually visiting their games, opening more windows for him. Why couldn’t his mother understand this? The brown hair sighed.

“Hey,” Mason turned his head to him. “No sweat, okay? We’ll keep you in loop and train you once you returned.”

“It won’t be as good as practicing with you two during the break, you know?” Corey glowered. “But my cousin in New York is playing lacrosse too, so I guess I’ll keep my skill sharp with him.”

“That’s good,” Mason smiled.

“Just make sure you don’t tell him our tactics. We might meet their school at national, you know?” Liam raised his index and middle fingers, crossing them together.

Corey held his hands up, in surrendering gesture, as he laughed along his upperclassmen. Liam pulled over as they arrived at the diner they frequented and they entered the place. They didn’t spend too much time for choosing the seating spot, and were heading to their usual booth.

“What time you need to head back?” Liam asked Corey once they put in their orders. Corey only ordered milkshake, so he won’t get too full for dinner later, while the other two boys went with burgers and fries.

“I think I got an hour and another quarter to walk back,” he glanced over the digital clock on his phone.

“I’ll drive you home,” Liam said. “It’s okay, Corey,” he deadpanned when the younger boy opened his mouth to refuse.

“He needs to drive me home too, anyway. And our house practically on the same direction,” Mason added on before slurped his cola, gave the younger boy a comforting wink.

“Thanks,” Corey pursed his lips. “So, what plan do you got?”

Liam smirked and promptly took out his notebook with a lot of scribble of various game tactics on it. The two best friends explained all the tactics they recently thought of, and Corey gave his own opinion on them. Liam deftly wrote down the younger boy’s suggestion and added his own opinions. As they were vigorously discussing their plans, the time was running out. Corey sighed when he saw his one hour time was up.

“I need to go back now or my mom will get suspicious,” he said as he put his stuffs back into his bag. “Where’s Mason? He’s still in the toilet?”

“He did say he have an upset stomach,” Liam chuckled, still scribbling something on his notebook.

“I’m gonna get him. Need to take a leak, anyway,” the light brown hair stood up and walked toward the men’s toilet. He was about to open the door, before he heard a soft moan at the dark corner near the toilet and he bugged his eyes. At that very corner, hardly noticing his coming, Mason and another senior was making out. They were literally dry humping each other and Corey could feel his head spun. He took off his glasses, wiped them clean on his shirt, wore them again, and yep, it was Mason and he was still kissing that older boy passionately. This was the first time Corey ever seen male and male making out, and it felt surreal for him. He could feel his heart was pounding so hard in his chest and his body started to feel weird. He flinched to the pressure he felt inside his pants and frowned dumbfounded.

As a teenager who hit his puberty, Corey obviously had his own curiosity about sex. However, he was always confined the said curiosity for the opposite gender. He was still a virgin, but that didn’t mean he never kissed a girl. When he was still on his freshman and sophomore years, there were girls in his class made a hit on him, and they tried dating, up to having mind-blowing make-out session. However, they never last long. Corey was putting his study and the game on top of his priority list, so he was never really looking for any dates. He still appreciated any offer came for him, but didn’t really look into it. And yes, he was also aware that some of his schoolmates preferred men than women, but he never witnessing it up close and personal. Especially, this time it was involve the older boy he knew well. He couldn’t really tear his eyes away.

“Until when you’re planning to stand there and watching them making out?” Corey was snapped out from his reverie as Liam’s strong arm dragged him back to their booth.

Corey blinked his eyes swiftly, before able to pull himself to make any coherent sentence. “M-Mason, he…”

“He’s gay,” Liam deadpanned.

The younger boy bugged his eyes comically.

“What? You have issue with gays?” Liam shot him stern gaze. “I’ll punch you here and now if you do, because that’s my best friend we’re talking about.”

Corey hastily shook his head. No, he didn’t think he did. It was quite hot, actually. So that was what he blurted out, drawn a chuckle from Liam. He narrowed his eyes. “What? Don’t tell me you’re into man too, Core.”

Corey gulped. Was he? He was seriously never thought about it. But he hardly thought about having relationships, be it with the opposite or the same gender. He liked his life now, with the classes, games, and two upperclassmen that he looked up like brothers, so he never put any mind on it. However, he did admit guys could be pretty attractive too, and he had no problem with homosexuality.

“Sorry that took me a while,” Mason’s voice pulled Corey out of his train-of-thought. He tilted his head and met with Mason’s soft gaze. His dark eyes were still slightly dilated. Arousal, Corey thought, as his eyes running down to Mason’s lips. They were slightly swollen and Corey felt they were so sinfully inviting. He started to feel something inside him was crawling their way out and making his body tingling with sensation. He never saw Mason the way he saw him tonight, alluring and enchanting. He could see his sex appeal, and Corey was tempted to have a taste of it. He knew he would never see that older boy the same ever again. However, for the sake of their friendships, Corey needed to collect himself and clung to the boundary. Especially, judging from the intensity of make out session he was just witnessing, Mason was taken. There was no chance for him to begin with.

“A while indeed,” Liam sneered. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re meeting up with Lucas here?”

“Lucas?” Corey frowned. He didn’t see Mason’s partner’s face clearly just then, and felt oddly familiar with the name. They did have one Lucas as their school’s basketball captain, who was tall and muscular, fitted the description of the man who was kissing Mason. “That was Lucas??”

Mason gawked, before he was blushing heavily. “You saw?” He shrieked.

“I think he almost got a heart attack when I found him,” Liam grinned.

“I did not!” Corey glared at him, before shot Mason an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to see it,” he cleared his throat. “I was heading to the toilet.”

Mason buried his head in his palm. “Oh, this is embarrassing…”

“S-since when? I-if you don’t mind me asking…”

“They are on and off since sophomore,” Liam answered for Mason. “So it’s on again?”

The dark-skin boy cracked a thin smile. He looked so fragile that Corey felt his heart stung a bit. “I don’t know, man,” Mason said. “Maybe…”

“He’s a douche bag,” Liam deadpanned. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Come on, Corey. Let’s not make your mom waiting,” the blonde grabbed Corey by his elbow and dragged him out. Mason needed more time before he followed them, and the drive back home was much quieter than ever. Every one of them seemed drowning in their own train-of-thought. Liam seemed pretty upset, while Mason lost in his mind. Corey also didn’t bother to initiate any conversation and subtly watching Mason through the rear view mirror. Something was changing inside him that night, and he was anxious to see where it would take him.

**

**_New York, the next day_ **

“And…, this is your room, just next to Scott’s,” Aunt Melissa opened the white door in front of them, smiled sweetly to Corey, as the boy walked in and cast his eyes around the room. “I’m so happy you come to visit us again, Corey. We really missed you.”

Corey pursed his lips, tried so hard not to let out any sarcastic comments such as: _‘I don’t really have a choice, Aunt Mel’_ , or _‘Not if I get to choose’_ , so on. Instead, he nodded his head and dropped his bag next to the dresser.

“Where’s Scott?” He inquired. When they arrived, there was only Aunt Melissa at home. He knew his uncle was at the office, but his cousin should be at home during break. His mother had rushed to the airport after they had short chit-chat with his aunt, so it was only him and his aunt at the moment.

“I think he’s out with his friends or with his girlfriend. It’s hard to keep tabs with him these days,” Melissa sighed. “But I told him you’ll be coming today, though.”

Corey cracked another thin smile. So, his cousin had a girlfriend now. Well, it was about time, actually. Many of Corey’s friends were having their own partners too, especially when the Junior prom approaching, so it shouldn’t be any surprise.

“So, what do you want to do now?” His aunt asked him, still maintaining her cheerfulness. Corey smiled to the thought how similar his aunt and his mother’s characters were, although the blood relationship was not running in them, but from his father’s side.

The glasses boy shrugged. “Unpack and take a nap, maybe. It’s quite tiring, the trip.”

Melissa nodded her head. “Take your rest then. I’ll call you when dinner is ready, or when Scott’s home. I’m going to the clinic shortly and planning to buy groceries afterward, do you need something?”

Corey shook his head. “No thanks, Aunt Mel. I’m good.”

“Okay, then…”

With that, his aunt went out the room and closed the door behind her, leaving Corey sprawling on the bed. He gazed the white ceiling and let out a deep sigh. He took his phone out and texted Mason that he arrived in New York and received a reply; Mason was wishing him a pleasant stay in the city and promised him he would e-mail Corey his training course, approved by their coach already. He replied a thank you and stared blankly to the ceiling again. He could only hope that this time, the stay won’t be too boring. He took off his glasses and started to drift away.

**

Corey didn’t know how long he was asleep, but it was already afternoon when he woke up with dry mouth and growling stomach. He rubbed his eyes, wobbly walked to the bathroom to wash his face, and wore back his glasses. He took a good look of his reflection on the bathroom mirror. He had a soft face with big honey-brown eyes under black eyebrows, and plump lips. He was told that he was quite good looking, but he thought he looked quite boring with his glasses. Maybe he better switched to contacts, not only during the game, he thought. However, the next second, he chuckled, laughing himself. Even if he done so, who he’d like to impress? _If_ he managed to impress anyone, could he keep them; that would be the next crucial question. Corey shook his head and decided to grab something to eat instead of dwelling in ridiculous thought.

As he descended downstairs, he heard a rustling sound from the kitchen. _Aunt Mel had done her shift? Great timing_ , he thought. He could ask his aunt to fix him something.

“Aunt Mel, I’m hungry. Do you have anything to eat?” He asked as he entered the kitchen. He saw the fridge door was opened and his aunt was bending her waist, with her face screened perfectly by the door, taking something from the fridge.

His aunt was clearly startled. She jolted and closed the door promptly, whipped her head to Corey now. Corey blinked swiftly when he saw that it was actually not his aunt at all. He was a _he_. Corey guessed he was around his age, shorter than he was, a brunette with trimmed black eyebrows framing a pair of twinkling hazel eyes, and inviting sexy thin lips beneath a perfectly sculpted tall nose. He was beautiful. Corey didn’t realize he was holding his breath when he laid his eyes on that brunette, and he could feel how his heart was drumming loudly in his chest when that boy flashed him a smile.

Corey gulped, tried his best to calm his pounding heart. What was this reaction his body made? He didn’t even have such reaction when he saw Mason. He clenched his arm with his hand, tried to pull himself together.

“So-sorry…, Melissa told me to come in…, I… Who are you, anyway?” That beauty stuttered. _So cute_ , Corey smiled.

“And who are _you_?” Corey cocked his head, smirking, collected himself now. “It’s not polite to ask other’s name without giving yours first, you know?”

The beautiful boy startled and was blushing immediately. Corey let out a low groan when he felt his pants had started to feel slightly uncomfortable now. He walked toward the kitchen island to give his lower part a good screen in case he hardly could contain himself. He offered his hand to the brunette.

“I’m Corey, Scott’s cousin.”

The boy was beaming as he took Corey’s hand to shake it enthusiastically. His skin felt so smooth in Corey's palm. “Ah, I should’ve guessed. Scotty told us about you. I’m Theo, Scott’s friend.”

 _Theo_ , Corey replayed the name in his heart and unabashedly checking him out, until Theo flustered and started to nibble his lips. Corey got a strong grip of the counter, pulling himself to behave and not to scare the shorter boy too much. “So,” he cleared his throat and tried to initiate decent conversation, “Are you a junior?”

Theo pursed his lips and smiled, nodded. “You too?”

“Yep.”

They fell into another silent. Theo still looked groggy around Corey and decided to pay full attention to his sandwich. Corey walked to the fridge and making his own sandwich too.

“So-sorry, I didn’t offer you one…,” Theo blushed when he saw he was eating by himself, while Corey was clearly hungry too.

Corey smiled. “It’s ok. I like to fix my own meal, anyway,” he said and caught a lacrosse stick amongst Theo’s bags. He paced into the other boy’s space and touched the stick. “You play?”

Theo nodded, “Scott and Stiles are better than me, tho.”

“Stiles?”

“Our other friend,” Theo explained, as rosy cheeks grew on him again. This time, his gaze was soften at the mention of that ‘Stiles’ name. Corey frowned, didn’t really like what he saw.

“Wanna play with me?” Corey asked. “I could use some exercise…”

Theo beamed and rushing to follow Corey to the back yard. “So you play too?”

“I’m on team at my school. Usually, I’m practicing with my seniors during my break, but my mom insisted for me to come here. That’s why, I’d appreciate any chance for practicing.” He threw the ball to Theo, who deftly caught it.

They were then started to play, running around the big yard and laughing together as they made score out of each other in turns. After some times, they finally sat down to take some break. Theo was still laughing satisfied and sprawling himself on the ground. His shirt wet with sweat, as well as his face, and his chest was heaving. Corey savoured each second of the view, trailing his eyes from Theo’s face down to his body. How would it feel to have him in his arms? He thought. How sweet was the taste of those lips? Corey gulped. He didn’t realize he already moved forward to approach Theo, when the said man suddenly jumped on his feet and beamed.

“Stiles!” He shouted, jogging toward the porch, waving enthusiastically to the two silhouettes who were walking toward his direction. “Scott!!”

Corey narrowed his eyes to see clearly. One of the coming silhouettes indeed belonged to his cousin. He was still like Corey remembered. Scott’s skin was tan like always, crooked jaw, dark-brown eyes and curly raven hair. He smiled and tilted his head when he saw Corey. The other boy, contrary, Corey never met. He was taller than Scott and Theo, maybe as tall as Corey was, and he was a brunette. He styled his hair in buzz-cut, made his face looked boyish with his upturned nose, thin-upper lips and constellation of moles sprawled on his pale skin. The other boy was somewhat cute too, but Corey knitted his brows tightly in the middle of his forehead when he saw Theo was showering that boy with fond gaze, which returned in full scale by the said boy, and they were occasionally caressing each other forearms in those intimate gestures.

“I see you’ve met Theo,” Scott said once he walked next to Corey.

“Yeah, cool kid,” Corey replied without tearing his eyes from Theo, noticing every single rosy cheeks he made when he was with that other taller brunette. _Beautiful_ , actually, but he knew how that would look like, so he held that particular opinion, as well as the uneasy feeling. “We played some. He’s good.”

“Yes, he is. He just got transferred during our sophomore year and we are really lucky to have him joining the team.”

“Yeah? Good for you. And, who’s the other guy?” Corey tilted his chin to the other brunette.

“That would be my best friend Stiles,” Scott waved to the other two boys, calling them to meet Corey. “Hey Stiles, come to meet my cuz’!!”

The tall brunette flashed Corey a friendly wide smile and had his arm wrapped on Theo’s shoulder, as they were walking toward him. The glasses boy frowned even deeper at the sight before him, but managed to compose himself. He tried to return Stiles’ smile. “So you are that Corey? Scott told me a lot about you!!”

“He did? I hope they were good things…”

“They were, no worries,” Stiles grinned. “Theo said you play lacrosse too?”

“Yeah, we just finished playing,” Corey gestured to the vicinity and abandoned lacrosse stick. “He’s good,” he said, stared fondly to the shorter brunette.

“Of course he is, my man Theo is the best,” Stiles pulled Theo tighter and crashed their cheeks together, awarded a protest from the shorter boy, and made Corey flinched. “Hey, Scotty, I’m seriously hungry, dude!”

“Okay! Okay! Let’s head back to the kitchen,” Scotty raised both of his palm, sighing.

“Are you hungry? I’ll fix some sandwich for you,” Theo offered and turned his head to Scott, “I hope you don’t mind, Scott. Do you want some too?”

“Nah, thanks. I just had waffles with Ally before I meet up with Stiles.” For no reason, Stiles was snorting upon the mentioning of some ‘Ally’. Corey guessed that must be Scott’s girlfriend’s name.

“No wonder you made me wait for almost an hour!” Stiles snorted again.

“Only twenty minutes, for goodness sake, Stiles,” Scott bugged his eyes.

“ _No wonder_ I was left here for so long,” Theo interjected. “Luckily Corey was there to accompany me,” he turned his head and flashed a grateful smile to Corey, who was following them in silent. Corey smiled back to him.

“Thanks, Corey…,” Stiles shot him another grin.

Corey said nothing as reply and seated himself on the dining chair, watching the boys attentively. Theo was deftly made preparation to make sandwich for Stiles, with that other brunette plastering him anywhere he went.

“Hey, Scotty…,” he whispered to his cousin, as Scott took his seat next to Corey. “Theo and Stiles…, are they an item?”

Scott frowned. A glint of resentment was in his eyes, but he dismissed it shortly. He cracked his cousin a wry smile. “Even you could see it as clear as the sky?”

“So they really are?”

Scott shrugged his shoulders. “I have my suspicion too, but they never admit it. Theo’s family and Stiles’ family are not in good term, tho’. So it’s sort of a miracle to see them that tight. I don’t know…”

Corey rested his face on his palm, studying the brunettes again. Could he read it all wrong? He was new to this, anyway. They might be close friends only, like Liam and Mason. _But_ , as long as he knew his seniors and hanged out with them, he never saw Liam caressed Mason's cheek when he had something on his face, the way Stiles did to Theo, neither would his seniors share one sandwich with each other. They were never exchanging spit the way those two brunettes did with their foods and drinks. Corey didn’t need long to get the answer, anyway. By the end of the week, as he was walking across Scott’s room, he saw Stiles and Theo were kissing, when his cousin was away. He frowned to the sight and felt a pang in his heart. Especially, when he saw how Theo’s beautiful face was flushed and how his hazel eyes locked firmly to Stiles’ amber eyes. They were in their own world, and there was no place for Corey there. _Yet_.

**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Please let me know what do you think about my work =)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> During this break, I'm revisiting my BL(yaoi) manga collections and that somehow influenced my mood in writing this installment. I decided to write this fic in BL setting, where mostly all the characters are in the same gender relationship. Therefore, with due respect, please do not relate the universe I created for this fic with reality. If you're not comfortable with BL, well maybe this fic is not your cup of tea. 
> 
> If you decided to read it anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Happy reading =)

**_Present Day_ **

The alarm clock rang for some times and with a groan, Corey swiftly turned it off. He sat up, rubbed his face, was still half asleep. He made the same dream again, he sighed. That particular summer seven years ago, when he met his first love for the first time. _Theo_. The name was echoing in his heart so beautifully, as beautiful as the owner. Before he met Theo, Corey never believed a shit about love at the first sight or how first love lingered for life. But now, his monumental meeting with the said brunette kept repeating itself in his dream, and he couldn’t maintain his relationship with others long enough for the very reason. He couldn’t make himself love his other partner the way he loved Theo. That was stupid, indeed, because they were not keep in touch after that summer was ended. _Hell_ , Corey even only had chance to have proper talk and be with Theo that very first time they introduced themselves to each other. After that, the other brunette, Stiles, was always with Theo, followed him around like his shadow. Or was it the other way around, it was _Theo_ who followed him everywhere? He didn’t want to care, really, because it was hurt. For the rest of his stay, that year, Corey was finally decided to dwell in his part time job at his uncle’s office, so he didn’t have to stumble on the couple. Afterward, he never spent any break at Scott’s house ever again, to avoid another heart-broken.

The brown hair took his shower and dressed himself for work. He nailed his internship shortly before he graduated, and got employed directly under Thomas Raeken, one of the very successful businessmen, as his assistant. Corey assumed he was doing well these days, since he was well-trusted by his boss, and he excelled in what he was doing. Moreover, he found out that _Theo_ was in fact Thomas Raeken’s son. Although he never got to see that man again, due to Theo’s lack of interest in his father’s business, but the chance for second meeting was still there. He learned from the media that Theo didn’t seem to be in relationship with anyone, so Corey’s hope grown. If only he could meet with Theo again, he might have fair fight to win his heart this time.

Corey reminded himself how stupid that was, to wait for that sheer chance, but he finally made peace with his heart that if he could meet Theo once more that would only serve as a bonus, because he was enjoying his current job (and was paid well for certain). For today, Corey picked his navy coloured suits, baby-blue shirt and wine-red tie. He cut his light-brown hair short, so he did not have to spend too much time to style it. He just combed them and made sure they were neat all day using hair-gel. He switched to contact since he entered college, and only used his glasses to read or when he was using computer, so he wore his contacts and walked outside to grab his work bag. Corey was craving for some bagels for breakfast, so he decided to buy his breakfast on his way to the office.

When he was making sure he got everything he needed for today, his peripheral vision caught a movement on his couch. He lived alone in that apartment, without any lover to crash at his at night, and there were only two people who had his spare keys, of which one of them he should be seriously considered to take his keys back from. Corey shut his eyes, clenched his jaw, in his effort not to lash hell to the very person who was sneaking into his apartment at night, without first calling him, and crashing as he pleased. After made sure he won’t snap too soon, Corey turned his heels and stormed to the couch. With one pull, he confiscated the blanket his guest was using, and made the said guest fell ass first from the couch he was sleeping on.

“The hell, Corey!!!” Scott jumped to his feet and glared at his cousin. His hand was busy rubbing his bruised ass.

“That was exactly my line!” Corey hissed, shooting equal rage to his dark-hair cousin. “What the hell are you doing in my apartment?!”

“You gave me keys!!”

“For emergency!!”

“It _is_ an emergency!” Scott shrieked. “I have no place to stay!”

Corey sighed hard, made sure his cousin could hear it clearly. He lifted his eyes and shot stern gaze to Scott. “Scotty, you have home,” he stated. “Go home to Allison…”

All bantering spirit fled Scott all of sudden upon the mentioning of the name. The raven hair tossed his body back to the couch, sighed exhaustedly.

“It’s no longer feels like home, Corey…,” he shut his eyes, pinching his nose-bridge. “It hasn’t been for months… You know that…”

Corey’s shoulders slumped. He never had heart to keep angry at Scott, especially when he looked this sad. Scott married his high school sweetheart once they graduated from high school, and everything went well until a year ago. Corey didn’t know what exactly was happening to them, but their marriage was starting to crumble. Ever since, Scott was always come to crash at Corey’s place, whenever he had fights with Allison. The visit lessened three months ago, so Corey assumed his cousin managed to make up with his wife. However, recently, it was almost every day Scott came to his apartment, mostly in drunken state. Scott also never mentioned anything about Stiles and Theo, his two high school best friends, and Corey finally learned from his aunt that Scott had fallen out with the couple since they graduated. That was why, Corey assumed, Scott could only come to him to confide. Corey sat next to him and pressed his hand to his cousin’s knee. “You’ve been with her since high school, Man. I saw how in love the two of you were. Can’t you sort it out and make it work again?”

“We’re in love with someone else, now…,” Scott’s face winced with obvious pain in his eyes. “Well, at least in my case. I met this guy…, and…”

“Hold up. _Guy?_ ”

Scott tilted his head to meet Corey’s gaze. “Yes Corey, a guy. I think I’m into guys too. _Just_ like you.”

Corey frowned. Yes, ever since he returned from his stay in New York seven years ago, Corey realized he preferred boys than girls. He even made move to Mason when he found out that that handsome dark-skin senior had broke up with Lucas, and made him as his first partner. They were together until Corey’s sophomore year in uni, when he finally came out to his mother. Well, it was hard not to, actually, since his mother barged into his dorm room when he was making love with Mason. His mother was frantic and gave him silent treatment for almost a year, before she finally could face the truth and took him back. However, her initial rejection affected his relationship with Mason, so they broke up. He got himself several partners afterward, but was never able to keep them for too long. Most of their accusation was that he never committed to their relationship. Maybe that was true, since Corey was still unable to forget about Theo, and he was with Mason for too long that he was subconsciously always compared his other partners with the former two men. Eventually, especially after he graduated and got employment, Corey drowned himself in works and only had occasional one-night-stands whenever he felt like to.

Corey rubbed his face. “Who is he? Someone that I know? Someone that Ally knows?”

Scott shook his head. “I met him at a club three months ago. We hit it off so well. I mean, I was only planning to doze myself in alcohol there, but then there was this angelic creature started a conversation with me. It was great,” he shrugged. “We were talking, and the next thing I knew was he kissed me so tenderly and the next next thing I knew was we were making love. I never knew I have it for guy, but with him, I…”

The brown hair raised his hand and cut off his cousin. So that was the reason Scott hardly came crashing at his place three months ago. Not that he was fixing things up with his wife, but because he found himself a lover. Corey felt sudden exhaustion. “I’m not really sure I want to hear your sexual quest so early in the morning?” Corey cringed. “I love you, Scotty, but sorry…”

“Okay,” Scott made surrendered gesture. “Too much information, I’m sorry. Bottom line, I am head over heels for this guy, and I want to be with him.”

“Scotty, you’re married,” Corey deadpanned. “Does Allison know about him?”

“That woman was cheating on me first!!” Scott bounced up on his feet and glared at Corey. “It wasn’t me who ruin our marriage! It was her!! I _tried_ , Corey. I busted my ass to make it _work_!!”

“Alright! So what now? You love that man, you want to be with him? Then go. Be with him. Divorce Allison.”

Scott’s shoulders slumped as he sunk into the couch once more. “I promised him that too, that I’ll divorce her. But I can’t, Corey. My mom, Victoria, Chris…, they never agree… Do you know that they even put me and Allison to have this counselling therapy? It’s so fucking annoying!!”

Corey took a heavy intake of breath, exasperated. “Scott!!” He raised his tone, stared his cousin pointedly. “You’re an adult. So start to behave like one. Make. Up. Your. Mind, for goodness sake!! If you keep indecisive like this, you’re only to hurt yourself, Allison, your mother, your in-laws, hell, even your lover.”

Scott chuckled, but the humour didn’t reach his eyes. “Funny you mentioned about that. Yeah, he pushed me away because of that. He doesn’t want to meet me anymore before I sort out this marriage of mine. That’s why I ended here last night. He doesn’t open his door for me anymore…,” he buried his face in his palm and started to sob.

Corey sighed and could only pull his cousin in his arm to comfort him. Scott was always like a sweet puppy, and who could deny him if he was in this state? Corey let him cried on his shoulders and only let him go after Scott calmed down.

“Sorry…,” his cousin whispered.

The brown-hair shook his head and stood up. “It’s ok. That’s what cousin for isn’t it?” He joked. “Look, Scotty. I’m almost late. You can stay here, and if you’re still up to talk about this I’m all ears, okay? We continue this after I’m home?”

Scott nodded meekly. Corey pursed his lips and patted his cousin’s shoulder before he went out. _What a morning…_!

**

“Are you drinking so early in the morning?” Brett leaned forward, completely invading Corey’s space and sniffed him not too subtly.

Corey planted his palm on Brett’s face and pushed him away with a murderous glare. After managed to dismiss his colleague, he started to sniff himself. He did smell like alcohol. The odour must have been transferred from Scott when he hugged his cousin just then.

“ _Dammit_!” Corey cursed, promptly tossing his drawer and reached for his cologne stash. He sprayed them on his shirt and sniffed again. That did the trick. Brett, however, winced and mocking coughs. “Shut up!” Corey hissed.

“So you still have leisure time for alcohol in the morning?” The tall guy jeered again. “Never peg you for a party goer, Cor. You never cease to impress me…,” He leaned on his desk, with his hands crossed in front of his chest, and he had his smug face on. Corey narrowed his eyes, annoyed.

“It’s my cousin,” he explained. “He crashed at my apartment, reek with alcohol. It must have been rubbed on me at some point.”

“Is your cousin as cute as you are? If yes, I don’t mind to accompany him drinking…”

Corey snorted. “Go fuck yourself, asshole.”

Brett’s eyebrows shot into his hairlines. He shrugged nonchalantly. “Been there, done that, and get bored too soon. I’m really bored, Corey. I need new partner, new quest…When will you invite that cute blonde senior of yours again? Or give me his contact details and I’ll sort it out myself.”

Corey glowered upon the prompt. He was meeting up with Liam one day, when the senior came to New York, and they were accidentally bumped onto Brett Talbot, Corey’s colleague. Brett was a well-known player of their office, or maybe in the whole New York. He swung both ways and bedding almost all singles in their office. Together with Corey, the two were Thomas Raeken’s most trustworthy assistants who had polar characters. Corey was the calm, reserved and composed one, always been so meticulous and careful, whilst Brett was the charming, passionate and impulsive one, bold to take any risk. Although Corey was new to the job, but together with Brett, Thomas Raeken considered them as his right and left hands, and that gave Brett more leverage to attract more of his off-clock preys.

Corey admitted, he was handsome and tall and competent worker and all, but he was a through and through asshole. Ever since Corey got internship position in their division and then employed directly under Thomas Raeken, Brett had been paving and tried to charm his way into Corey’s pants every so often. As someone with bigger conscience, Corey knew better to stay away from that man and maintaining their relationship limited to the professional one. Brett got the message, but that didn’t mean he would give up easily. Especially, when he met Liam, he was attracted to that blonde senior and kept bugging Corey to introduce them properly ever since.

“Drop it, will you? Liam is straight, he has a girlfriend and _no one_ in their right mind will introduce people that they care about, _to you_ ,” Corey deadpanned, as Brett clutched his chest to mock hurt.

“Why???” He whined.

“Buy yourself a mirror and see the ‘why’ yourself!”

“I did! And I completely don’t understand…!! As for your _straight_ senior, why don’t you give me his contact and I’ll help him sort that out too…” He flailed his hand and put on his innocent face, made Corey rolled his eyes. He decided to tune that man out and focused on _working_. “Oh right, Mr. Raeken said he wanted to see you once you came.”

Corey jumped up from his seat and shot murderous glare to the taller man. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!!” He screamed, as Brett flashed him his sweet and innocent smile. “Oh, I hate you so much, Talbot, you fucking asshole!!” Corey hastily grabbed his tab and notebook and bolted out their office to rush meeting his boss.

“I love you, Bryant!!” Corey could still hear Brett’s voice as he swung his heels to Thomas Raeken’s office. Some of his female colleagues who had their cubicle lined up next to his and Brett’s office hid their smile from hearing the two assistants bantering, awarded more mental curse from Corey. The bantering of Thomas Raeken’s two PAs were other employees daily entertainment, and they were not really too subtle with their amusement. Corey kept cursing Brett in his heart until he reached Thomas’ office.

He calmed himself down, checked his suits and knocked. After three knocks, he heard his boss’ voice summoned him in. Slowly, he opened his door and poked his head.

“Corey!” Thomas Raeken greeted him cheerfully. The tall and built leader was sitting behind his desk inside his spacious office. The view of New York city was displayed through large windows which surrounding his office. Corey slipped in and flashed his boss cordial smile. He nodded politely to Nora Raeken, Thomas’ wife who was sitting in front of her husband, who was not too subtly observing Corey from top to toe. “You’ve met my wife, Nora…”

“Nice to meet you again, Mrs. Raeken,” Corey stepped forward to shake the woman’s hand. Nora smiled.

“Hello, Corey. So it’s gonna be him, Thomas? I think he’d do,” Nora pivoted her attention back to her husband. The prompt made Corey bemused, hence he frowned.

“Nora, give the guy some prelude, before we head to the business. Look at him, he’s confused.”

“You are more straight forward than me,” Nora snorted, but let her husband led the conversation anyway.

Corey cleared his throat and smiled politely. “Is there anything I can help with, Sir? Ma’am?”

“Why don’t you take your seat first, Corey,” Thomas gestured toward one of the chairs in front of his desk. Corey pulled one out and dragged it for some distant from Nora Raeken who was sitting on the other one.

“Thank you, Sir.”

“So Corey, it’s actually about our son, Theodore,” Thomas explained. Corey reflexively smiled to the name. _Theodore_. _Theo_. He initially didn’t know that _his_ Theo was a Raeken. He knew that Theo became a pop-idol when he entered uni, but only knew that he was Thomas and Nora Raeken’s son when he worked for them.

“Yes, Sir?” Corey anticipated.

“Our son finally came into his sense to put more interest about this company, as its true heir. In order to do so, he needs to learn so many things, since he spent so many years concentrating on his other career. He needs someone to tutor him about our company’s ins and outs.”

“And, as you might already aware, Theo is a pop singer,” Nora added on. “He loves singing and composing since he’s in school and he still has this contract that not yet due. I don’t want him to let go his hard-earned career just like that to join our company, as much I hate to see him disrespect his contract by withdrawing himself faster than it supposed to be, although we could give his producer decent compensation,” as she said that, Nora shot pointed glare to her husband. Corey pursed his lips, understood very well. Thomas Raeken had been so eager to see his only son worked in the company, but Theo never showed his willingness, until now. Since he already expressed his willingness, Thomas must have been antsy to buy his son out from his producer, but met his wife disagreement. However, Corey was still not sure how he could help the couple.

“Theo is a workaholic. I’m worried that if we add his responsibility to study about the company’s nitty-gritty while he’s still doing his other job, he’ll find no time to rest and pays no attention to his health,” Nora carried on. “That’s why, we want you to help tutor him and supervise his schedule, cater his daily needs.”

“In short, to be his personal assistant, Corey,” Thomas concluded.

Corey’s eyes widen. He silently pinched his thigh. It was hurt, so he was not dreaming. The Raekens wanted him to be Theo’s PA? He could meet and be with Theo all day?

“I hope you don’t get offended with our request, Corey,” Nora interjected.

“It’s a great loss for me not to have you around for a while, since you’re very capable. But, I think Brett could hold the fort for you, and you could still assist him for administrative business while you’re with our son,” Thomas added.

 _Offended?_ Hell, no. It was like a dream come true for Corey. He was extremely satisfied to be able to meet Theo again. And now he had chance to spend the whole day with him? That was beyond imagination! Moreover, the Raekens chose _him_ instead Brett, although that tall asshole had been working longer than he did, meant they trusted him more than they trusted Brett. Thomas and Nora Raeken trusted him, Corey, for their son’s, _Theo_ , well-being. Corey was beaming as he lifted up gratitude to every single holy being that were answering his prayers, in his heart.

“It’s an honour, Sir,” Corey replied sincerely. _An honour indeed_. “Thank you for trusting me like this. I’ll do my best to help Mr. Theo with his study and his daily life.”

The spouses smiled ear-to-ear, seemed pleased with Corey’s answer. Nora opened his purse and fished out a ring of keys. She gave them to the young assistant. “These are Theo’s house keys. I give them to you, so you can start to work for him…, let’s say…, tomorrow morning?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Corey received the keys with both of his hands. They were about to be his most precious possession now.

“The two of you are of same age. I think you can get along well with him,” Thomas said.

“Yes, Sir. I hope so too,” Corey gave out clipped nod. _Yes, he hoped so too_ …

**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Please leave kudos if you like it, and I really could use your comment and critic^^


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the elaboration of chapter 9 of "The Second When We Said 'I Do'", but it was written from Corey's POV, so I'm using some of the dialogues =) 
> 
> For those who are not reading the first series, Theo and Stiles' relationships might be tad confusing. In short, they were actually developing the 'friends with benefit' relationship, instead of being lovers. By the time on this chapter, Theo and Stiles had broke up because Stiles is married to Derek. That left Theo heart-broken and in the process of moving on. There is where Corey had his chance.

_Light yellow, pastel pink, white…_

“Are you not going for work today?” Scott poked his head into his cousin’s room, frowned to see the taller man rummaging his own dresser and looked indecisive on what to wear. Corey was always an efficient man; he never spent more than minutes to decide what he was going to wear, especially that for work. However today, if Scott was not wrong, he’d been choosing clothes more than half an hour, like a teenager on his first date with his biggest crush ever. “Are you going for a date?”

Corey snorted and glared sternly to his cousin, hands were still busy sorting out what to wear. “I’m meeting new client today, so I want to make sure everything is perfect,” he explained, understood very well Scott’s intention.

“The new client is cute?” Scott wiggled his eyebrows. “You are hard to be impressed. So, he must be damn cute.”

 _You had no idea, Cuz’_ , Corey smirked, but gave Scott no reply. “Right, Scotty. Could I ask you something?”

Scott turned his heels back and looked at Corey. “What is it?”

Corey hesitated a bit, because Scott usually got cranky when someone asked him about this. However, he finally decided to proceed. He needed to gather every information he could get to make sure he knew how he should face Theo later. “Your best friends on high school. Stiles and Theo. What happened with them?”

Scott’s face went sullen, like always, whenever someone mentioned the two names on his face. “Why’d you suddenly ask about them? Wait…, you’re working for Thomas Raeken. Is there anything happened to Theo?”

Corey nibbled his plump lips, before he decided to confess. “I’m going to be his PA starting today.”

There was silent in the room, as Scott processed everything and darted his eyes to Corey and his wardrobe. He finally came to understanding. “So these… It’s for Theo? Holy shit, Corey, are you into Theo?”

His cousin immediately blushing, made Scott gaped. “You are?!” He squealed. “Since when?!” Scott went silent, but when Corey was about to answer, he raised his hand, stopped him. “No, wait, you only met them once, seven years ago. And I’m pretty sure you never mention you met him at the company. Theo is not interested in his father’s business too, so does Stiles. That's left… My goodness, you’ve been into him for seven fucking years?! Do the two of you maintaining contact behind my back?”

“No…,” Corey closed his eyes, felt how childish his feeling to Theo was, when Scott put it that way. He was clinging to that feeling, his feeling to a boy who was never returning his attention back, a boy who had lost contact from him for seven years, a boy who was clearly given his heart (and most likely body) to someone else. He let out deep sigh. “No, it was only that one time. Call me stupid, Scotty, but I fell in love at first sight with your best friend that year. And these years, it was only him…”

Scott’s eyes bugged, as he opened and closed his mouth like a fish. He finally got a grip of himself and started to shoot pitiful gazes to his cousin. “Dude, I’m sorry…”

“Sorry for what?” Corey retorted. “For being an idiot? No need. That’s my own decision. What can I do? A heart wants what a heart wants. I tried to be in relationships anyway, but… Well, you knew how they went…”

Scott sprawled his arms and pulled his cousin to his embrace, patting the light-brown hair to encourage him. “I’m sorry that I should’ve notice about your feeling to Theo sooner. But honestly, if he and Stiles are still together, there will be no opportunity for you. Those two…,” he sighed. “They were building a world that fit only them. They were not aware that they done to others like that, pushing other people out from that world, not allowing us to understand, yet demanding us to be tolerant. It was suffocating in that kind of friendships.”

Corey pulled himself away, but his hands were still on Scott’s shoulders. “So…, was that the reason why you left and never in contact with them anymore?” He asked, as his cousin smiled wearily.

“I knew I went overboard with my feeling to Ally that time, and often bailed on them, Stiles especially. And…, I think he was paying me back by shutting door for me to our friendship with Theo. I think I was subconsciously aware that Stiles was smitten with Theo ever since our first meeting, but to have the confirmation on your face that the feeling had been evolved into something that was more physical, that was an entirely different thing. I didn’t mind if they were dating and sexiled me. That was fine. I done that to them with Ally too. But, what enraging me was they never let me understood them. They made their own language and offered no place for me to be there to support them. I understand it was hard for them to be together, with their family are in hatred with each other, but I can support them as friend! Yet, they didn’t allow me. So, what other choice did I have? I could only leave, couldn’t I?”

Scott stared back with tired eyes and painful expression that Corey never seen before. It must have been hard for his cousin these years. He had no other best friend aside Stiles, as far as Corey noticed. Now, his marriage was shaken, Scott didn’t have anyone to confide to. No wonder he kept returning to Corey’s. “Sorry,” Corey said weakly. “I opened up old wound so early in the morning.”

Scott pursed his lips. “It’s okay. You deserve to know, anyway, so you'd know what kind of possibility you’d face if you meet Theo again. Corey, if he’s still with Stiles, just walk away. Spare yourself, okay?”

That was his long time struggle. Corey also wondered whether he could make himself done that or not. “The media said Theo is not in any relationship.”

“You are usually smarter than this, Cuz’,” Scott narrowed his eyes. “Like I said, their family are on each other’s throat. Knowing Stiles, he would choose his family before Theo. Knowing Theo, he would never let his family disappointed in him. If, they chose to be together, I highly doubt they would ever come out as couple. _They_ , would never be lovers to the world.”

Corey frowned. “So, what’s the option left? Friends with benefit? Fuck buddies?”

Scott shrugged. “Somewhere between that two…”

Corey frowned deeper. He could feel how his heart was beating harder as rage started to consume him. Theo deserved to be happy! He deserved acknowledgement. Corey saw when that man was on stage. He was amazing! He was a natural born star. And star, was not to be kept hidden. He gritted his teeth.

“But…,” Scott patted his cousin’s shoulder. “If they’ve separated, then help Theo to move on, Cuz’. He deserves it,” he tugged the corner of his lips, smiled. The raven hair then walked toward Corey’s bed, where the shirts were laying in mess. Scott pulled one with pastel-blue colour and gave it to his cousin. “You’re always look good in blue,” he said.

Corey smiled back and took the advice.

**

Theo’s house was a town house with minimalist exterior design, painted in cream white. It had two storeys, but was not flashy or elaborated. Corey parked his car behind a white truck he was guessing belonged to Theo. He knew he was a bit nervous to start working with Theo, wondering whether he remembered Corey or not. The anxiety made knots in his stomach since he was at home, but it was getting worse once he arrived at Theo’s house. However, he was grateful with his talk with Scott, as it calmed him a bit. As his cousin advised him, Corey eventually settled with baby blue shirt with white stripes and light brown trousers for his outfit today. He was expected to shadow Theo everywhere, anyway, so he decided to lose the suits and tie.

Corey pressed the buzz once, no answer. Twice, still no answer. He tried to peek inside through the blinds and it seemed there was no movement. He glanced to his watch, it was half eight. Theo might be still sleeping, Corey thought, so he used the keys Nora Raeken gave to him. His parents had informed Theo about his coming, anyway, so he couldn’t be called trespassing. Corey walked into the house, called Theo by his family name, just to be safe, but like previously, he got no response. Corey took a deep breath and resumed walking. He cast his eyes to the vicinity. Like the exterior, Theo’s house’s interior was designed minimalist too, and dominant with white. The layout of the interior was simple and efficient; living room after the front door, with the kitchen on the far corner, and two rooms next to the kitchen. There were another three rooms at the second floor, presumably bedrooms. Corey gazed around and saw no sign of other occupant except Theo in that house. The coat racks next to the door was occupied with one sized jackets and coats, as well as the shoes rack. There was no other photo except those showed Theo with his parents, and no pairing mugs or whatsoever that indicated he was in a relationship. To this, Corey sighed relieved. So, Theo and Stiles might not last more than high school.

Corey saw Theo’s phone was put on the socket for recharging, made him assured Theo was still sleeping, somewhere inside one of the bedrooms, so he decided to fix him some breakfast. With his mother’s tight schedule, Corey was often left at home, alone, so he was used to do the chores and cook for himself. He worked as barista too, made him got a hold around coffee machine. He cooked the breakfast on the stove and brewed the coffee in the machine. He was about to plate the meal when he heard rustling voice coming from upstairs, and Theo was jogging down the stairs.

The light-brown hair turned his face to meet Theo’s gaze. Theo was still the way Corey remembered, still as beautiful as seven years ago. He looked like he was just woke up, and still had his bed hair. Corey could feel his body gave the same reaction as seven years ago when he first saw Theo. It filled with sudden urge that he needed to hold back as he might. Corey unabashedly observed the brunette and realized that he looked slightly pale and seemed slightly wobbly. Dealing with the drunken Scott almost every morning, Corey recognized the sign of hangover on Theo in instance. When he stared the brunette in the eye, he saw that the said brunette looked perplexed, stung his heart so much. Apparently, Theo had forgotten about him. It didn’t look like he remembered Corey. He was genuinely confused on why the assistant was standing on his kitchen, inside his house, at ass hour. The brown hair sighed, mustering his confidence back. _Fine_ , if Theo forgot about him, he could always start over, charmed him once more. Maybe, this time would be prevailing, better than the last time, Corey smiled to his thought.

“Good morning, Mr. Raeken,” Corey greeted him, with his best smile and attitude. His eyes were never leaving Theo’s face. He took two cups of coffee, and gestured to the artist. “Coffee?”

“Who the hell are you?!!!” Theo shrieked.

It was like a déjà vu for Corey. Their second meeting was almost the same like their first, and Corey really didn’t know whether to feel amused or to scream for the irony. He chose to act innocent at the end. “I thought Mr. and Mrs. Raeken had informed you about me. They gave me your keys, stating that I am to start working for you from today onward.” Watching Theo was still taken aback and seemed didn’t trust him, Corey wiped dry his hand on the apron and offered him his handshake. _Two could play this game_ , he thought, and smiled sweetly. “Where’s my manner? Please forgive me, Sir. My name is Corey Bryant, I’m your Personal Assistant.”

The hand was forsaken. Theo looked at him like Corey was some sort of alien, made him could only smile wryly. He took his hand back. “You haven’t heard about me, have you?”

The brunette was still not answering Corey’s question and walked backward with eyes still locked on the assistant, as if he was afraid that if he tore his eyes away, Corey would attack him. The thought made Corey smiled. Theo was always that cute. He was quite naïve seven years ago, and seemed more mature now, but he was always _that_ cute. The taller man started to feel he had a growing problem in his hands now. If Theo kept behaving like this, it would be sooner than later that Corey would lose his self-control. He took a deep breath, calming himself down while Theo was busy with his phone. 

“Mom,” Theo called the receiver. As Corey thought, he made call to his mother. “Mom, why is there a certain Corey Bryant fixing breakfast at my house?” He asked, with eyes still fixated on Corey, studying him from head to toe. Theo was not remembering him at _all_. Apparently, Corey had another chance to charm the brunette once more. The assistant smiled to the thought. He was always a big fan of second chance. 

“I went out drinking with my producer and colleagues last night, and my phone was running out of battery. I just opened it to call you about him. What’s going on? Why do I need a PA?” Corey returned his focus back to Theo’s conversation with Nora Raeken. “That bit I get, but why the PA-ing thing?” The brunette asked his mother again after paused for some beats.

Theo was letting out another protest, but got cut off with the sound of door bell. Corey arched his eyebrows, was asking permission to do his job and helped with the door. Once he got himself an approval nod from Theo, he dashed toward the door.

Corey found himself facing two tall men on the other side. The first man had wavy raven hair, like Scott, with heavy eyebrows framing his hooded dark eyes. He looked stupefied when he saw Corey and cracked an awkward smiled. The other man, on the other hand, looked paler, but had more confident. He was blonde, curly hairs and big blue eyes with amazing cheek bones. He reminded Corey of those images of angels. The curly blonde smiled to him, before he cringed again from the hangover.

“Yes?” Corey greeted them with his professional charming smile.

“Ah, we’re here for Theo?” The awkward raven hair opened his mouth. “We want to pick him up for work?”

 _So_ , they were Theo’s colleagues. Corey smiled again and made way to invite them in. He was eyeing the curly blonde. He looked too comfortable around Theo’s house and that aroused Corey’s curiosity. Could it be, that he was involved with Theo?” 

“So, Corey…,” he heard Theo’s voice, as the brunette walked approaching them. 

The curly blonde was flailing his hand to Corey, with mixture expression of grimacing and smirking, made the assistant more curious. “Yes, so this Corey, is…?”

“I’m so sorry to interrupt you so early in the morning, b-but I told you I’d pick you up, right?” The awkward raven hair chimed again. Corey pursed his lips. Amused. That man certainly thought Corey was involved with Theo, and them coming so early had interfering them. _Good_ , Corey liked that. However, the curly blonde seemed unaffected with Corey’s presence and merely wondering who he really was and what the hell his business was there. He looked like he had claims over Theo and that was bothering Corey. _Bad._  

“Isaac, Josh, meet my PA, Corey Bryant. Corey, meet my producer, Isaac Lahey, and my colleague, Josh Diaz,” Theo introduced them. 

 _Producer_. So that was their relationship. However, Corey still had vibe that Theo and Isaac had deeper relationship than that of the professional one. He felt Isaac was slightly too protective over Theo, but was not on scale of a lover’s protective. Like him toward Liam and Mason, and those two seniors to him, maybe? Well, Corey was crossing his fingers for now. 

“PA?” The curly blonde frowned. “You never need one before.”

Theo gestured toward the sofas. “I’ll explain it to you later. I’m going to take a shower, Okay? Could you please wait for a bit?”

“Do you want some coffee?” Corey offered with sweet smile. He needed to be on Theo’s good side, if he wanted to charm him this time. And, in order to do that, he needed to be on his friends’ and family’s good side first. Like the wise said, to kill a general shoot his horse first. So that was what he planned to do. Shooting horses to claim his prize later.

Isaac was instantly beaming and melted as he sipped the coffee Corey brewed. The assistant chuckled to the sight. The curly blonde was behaving like a child with candies, clearly in desperate need of good coffee. Corey plated two portions of breakfast and offered them to the two guests. They looked like they were in need of breakfast too. The guests were very appreciative with the offer and started to dig their meal. 

“So, Corey…,” Isaac said in-between his chewing. “How long have you work for Theo’s dad?”

“I’ve been doing internship at their company a year before I was graduated, but working directly under Thomas Raeken was started six month ago, shortly after I graduated.” 

“Nice…,” the curly blonde nodded. He was about to talk again, but cut off by Theo who was rushing downstairs again, refreshed after shower. Corey smiled fondly to the sight. Theo’s cheeks redden and still damp from the water, and his hair was slightly wet, dripped on his shirt. He looked very sensual and alluring like that, and Corey definitely could get used to the sight. He pivoted his focus before it was getting out of hand and offered Theo his breakfast. 

“Omelette and bacon, Mr. Raeken?” 

“Call me Theo,” he replied. _Sure_ , Corey replied mentally, smiled sweetly to him. Theo cleared his throat. “Yeah, that would be nice, thank you. But can I have a word with you first, Isaac?” Theo tilted his chin toward one of the rooms downstairs. Isaac frowned, but wiped his mouth and followed the house owner nonetheless. They walked into the pointed room, which was a study, when Corey peeked as Theo opened the door and before he shut it shortly after. Once the two was gone behind the door, Corey leaned forward toward the awkward raven hair.

“Theo and his producer,” he whispered, wanted to make sure something. “Are they an item?”

That awkward man was almost fell backward as he was taken aback from Corey’s prompt. He cringed and looked entirely disgusted. “No!” He shrieked. “How could you come out with that kind of conclusion? Oh dear angels, no!!” 

Corey was smiling ear to ear now, but it was gone as soon as the raven hair proceeded. “I think Theo has another boyfriend. He is always going home straightaway once he finished his work. Last night was the first time he got time to go drinking with us.” 

“I see no sign of any boyfriend in this house,” Corey sounded his objection.

The raven hair shrugged. “They might be breaking up or taking a break, I don’t know. We are strictly professional, you know, and Theo is not the kind of artist who likes to reveal his feelings and story. He holds everything close to his chest. But Isaac maybe knows. I don’t know. Ask him yourself if you’re that curious.”

“I will,” Corey smiled again, and resumed eating his breakfast, completely ignoring the face the other man made. He had all the time he needed, anyway. Especially, with him being Theo’s PA, he could find out the truth easily.

Not long after, the study door was opening, and Isaac walked back to his stool and resumed eating his breakfast. Josh, the awkward raven hair, thanks to Corey’s question previously, was now looked even more awkward. He barely could see the other three men in the eye. Corey was completely ignoring him and gave Theo his coffee. The brunette took it with a smile now, and offered his handshake. 

“I’m sorry about before. I was surprise to find a stranger in my kitchen, that I’ve been rude to you. Could we start over again? Hi, I’m Theo, nice to meet you.” 

Corey straightened his body, smiled amused to Theo and returned his handshake. “We might not be so much of a stranger, you know?” He chuckled when Theo looked perplexed. The brunette was really not remembering him. It was slightly hurt, but it was also meant that Corey could just proceed with his plan to charm Theo like today was their first meeting. He dismissed his previous words and continued to return Theo’s greetings. “Nice to meet you too, Theo. My name is Corey, your PA.”

**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. I hope it's not boring. Kudos and comments are highly appreciated =)


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